Our Topics
Strengthening Decentralization and Local Self-Government
Strengthening local stakeholders to shape inclusive, transparent, and community-centered recovery
Recovery Starts at the Local Level
Recovery will take place at the community level, where local actors are central not only to rebuilding but also to Ukraine's EU accession. However, the full-scale invasion has triggered a recentralization of power, resulting in gaps and inconsistencies in recovery planning. Addressing these challenges requires early involvement of local stakeholders to ensure transparency, service quality, safety, accountability, and meaningful civic engagement.
Our Approach
We aim to strengthen the voice of local self-government and support key actors in building the capacity needed to access international recovery funding, including the EU's Ukraine Facility.
Alongside the Ukraine Recovery Conferences in Berlin and Rome, we organized expert discussions, online dialogues, and round tables in Kyiv to bring together leading local voices and connect them with national authorities and EU-level planners. This helps ensure that community perspectives are represented in recovery decision-making.
Ukraine Air War Monitor
Tracking and analyzing aerial warfare developments and their implications for Ukraine's and Europe's security.
Context and Purpose
Russia's ongoing full-scale invasion of Ukraine is growing in intensity by the month. The goal of this war of aggression is to eliminate Ukraine as a sovereign state and to put an end to its chosen democratic path of moving out of the Kremlin's sphere of influence. Since 2005, Kyiv Dialogue has accompanied and supported Ukraine's European integration.
Never before has this integration been so close, yet so endangered as today, when the very existence of the country is at stake.
About the Project: Monitor Air War Ukraine
With our new project, Monitor Air War Ukraine – Analyses for the Protection of Ukrainian Cities and Infrastructure, we address political decision-makers, experts in security and military policy, as well as specialized journalists.
The analysis is based on a comprehensive and unique database tracking every Russian air strike on civilian targets in Ukraine since autumn 2022. The newsletter provides analyses on ongoing Russian air strike campaigns, identifies emerging trends, and enables assessments of Russia's evolving military strategy and capabilities.
The Monitor Air War Ukraine newsletter is published monthly and is issued by the Kyiv Dialogue in cooperation with OSINT, data analyst Marcus Welsch, and – since August 2025 – the Konrad Adenauer Foundation.
Annual Conferences
Kyiv Dialogue's Annual Conferences are the longest-established format for bilateral civil society dialogue.
Kyiv Dialogue: Amplifying Ukrainian voices
Kyiv Dialogue brings together those shaping Ukraine's future. Leading voices from civil society, politics, media, and research meet to exchange perspectives, deepen understanding, and build partnerships. The conferences place particular emphasis on amplifying local perspectives from Ukrainian regions and communities, ensuring their voices are reflected in international dialogue.
History and Purpose
The first Kyiv Dialogue conference took place in Berlin in 2005, during the momentum of the Orange Revolution, to discuss democratic change and public participation in Ukraine. Since then, Kyiv Dialogue convenes reform-oriented stakeholders on annual basis alternately in Kyiv and Berlin. Due to Russia's full-scale invasion, conferences have been held exclusively in Berlin since 2022.
Format and Approach
Each conference features high-level panel discussions, working group sessions, keynote addresses, and networking opportunities designed to foster meaningful exchange and build relationships.
The 20th Annual Conference "Resilience and Reforms in Ukraine at Wartime: The Role of Local Self-Governance" will take place on 18-19 November in Berlin
Alumni Network
Facilitating knowledge sharing and collaboration among change-makers in Ukraine
A Nationwide Community of Change-Makers
The Alumni Network brings together former cooperation partners and local grassroots initiatives that have been supported by the Kyiv Dialogue across Ukraine. Its purpose is to expand the project's regional ties into an active, nationwide community. The network strengthens interregional cooperation, facilitates the exchange of knowledge, experience, contacts, and funding opportunities, and supports collaboration on joint projects. During the first days of Russia's full-scale invasion, the network proved its value by enabling rapid communication and coordination among its members.
Who Is Part of the Network
The Alumni Network connects change-makers from civil society and local administration who carry new ideas, practices, and democratic values into their organizations and communities. Participants stem from previous cooperation partners, alumni from Kyiv Dialogue training programs, and from local initiatives we supported through our mini grant program. Through this ongoing collaboration, the network continues to foster social resilience, mutual support, and shared action across regions in Ukraine.
Partners and Supporters
